This invention relates to the art of wrenches and, more particularly, to a wrench for tightening and loosening a slip nut relative to drain line components interconnected thereby.
It is of course well known that axially adjacent tube or pipe components in a drain line for a sink, such as a kitchen or bathroom sink for example, are interconnected by a sealing ring and slip nut to provide a sealed joint therebetween. The adjacent tubes may be telescopically interengaged for adjusting the axial position therebetween, and the axially outer end of the outer tube is provided with an annular sealing ring seat and is peripherally threaded to receive a slip nut. The slip nut is apertured to receive the inner tube adjacent the axially outer end of the outer tube and is internally threaded for threaded interengagement with the end of the outer tube to draw the slip nut against the sealing ring, thus to radially compress the sealing ring against the outer periphery of the inner tube. In another joint arrangement, the ends of the tubes are axially opposed and one of the tubes is provided with an end face and threads about the outer periphery thereof. The end of the other tube is provided with a radially outwardly extending peripheral flange, and the sealing ring is interposed between the flange and end face of the adjacent tubes. The slip nut axially engages against the flange, whereby the threaded interengagement between the slip nut and the one tube axially compresses the sealing ring between the flange and end face to seal the joint therebetween.
For many years, such pipe and slip nut components were of metal construction and the outer periphery of the slip nut was provided with a plurality of flat tool pads to facilitate the assembly and disassembly of a sealed joint through the use of an adjustable pipe wrench or the like. In more recent years, PVC, ABS and other plastic materials have been used in the construction of such drain tubes and slip nuts with the intention that the sealed joint between adjacent tubes be achieved through the hand tightening of the slip nut. Accordingly, the outer periphery of the slip nut is generally provided with circumferentially spaced apart axially extending ribs or nodes to facilitate grasping and turning the nut by hand. However, leaks often occur at the joints as the result of the inability to apply adequate torque to the slip nut by hand for achieving proper sealing interengagement between the pipes and sealing ring. Thus, while not recommended, and in fact often against specific instructions to the contrary, an adjustable pipe wrench is used to turn the slip nut. Often, adjustment of the wrench to achieve gripping of the nut thereby results in distorting the circular contour of the slip nut, sealing ring and the pipe components and, as a result of such distortion, rotation of the nut is more difficult and often results in over-tightening the nut. Moreover, such distortion subjects both the tube and nut to breakage and/or permanent distortion from the circular configuration thereof. All of these problems promote leakage at the joint which cannot be stopped, whereby the installation or repair operation has to begin anew. The teeth of a pipe wrench can also damage the outer surface of the slip nut and/or one of the pipes if a pipe wrench is also used to hold the latter pipe against rotation during the assembly and, in this respect, the teeth dig into the surface of the plastic components, thus marring the appearance thereof. Another factor which can result in such marring and/or distortion of the character referred to above is related to the axial contour of the slip nut. In this respect, the outer surface and nodes of slip nuts often have an axial portion thereof which tapers axially outwardly in the direction from the apertured end toward the internally threaded end thereof. Therefore, since the jaws of a pipe wrench are generally parallel and the teeth thereof straight, only an outer edge of opposed teeth of the wrench effectively engage the tapered outer surface or nodes of such a nut making it difficult to grip the nut for turning. For example, the jaws of the wrench tend to slide axially of the nut away from the threaded end thereof. If the jaws are manually forced toward the latter end and/or adjusted to increase the grip on the nut, both surface damage and distortion of the nut can result.
Further, as is well known, the slip nut joints associated with the J-shaped trap in a sink drain line are both horizontally and vertically close to one another, whereby it is difficult to engage and rotate the slip nuts through the use of a pipe wrench without engaging the trap or other pipes in the drain line with the wrench and thus potentially damaging and/or marring the surfaces thereof. Moreover, as is also well known, the space beneath kitchen and bathroom sinks is most often enclosed by a cabinet or vanity having a front access door, whereby a person installing and/or repairing or replacing a drain line has to reach into the cabinet from the front thereof to access the drain parts. This alone renders the manipulation of a heavy, adjustable pipe wrench difficult in connection with an installing or repairing operation, and such manipulation of the pipe wrench is most often made even more difficult by space limitations imposed by the side and rear walls of the enclosure. In this respect, the walls can both interfere with an limit positioning of the wrench for engagement with a slip nut and, thereafter, rotation of the nut. The closeness of the joint components to one another, together with such front access and space limitations, also make it difficult to grasp and rotate a slip nut by hand to the extent necessary to preclude leakage at the joint. Often, this is the reason for turning to a pipe wrench in an effort to stop leakage. Another potential problem exists in connection with disassembling a drain line which has been in place for a considerable period of time and in which one or more of the slip nuts at the joints therealong cannot be initially turned by hand in the direction to disassemble the joint, whereby a pipe wrench may once again be resorted to for the latter purpose.
As will be appreciated from the above, the installation and/or removal of a sink drain line of the character wherein the sealed joints include a slip nut which is intended to be manipulated by hand is physically difficult, time consuming and often frustrating to the person doing the work. Moreover, if the person resorts to the use of an adjustable, toothed pipe wrench or the like, the work can be more strenuous physically and can result in damage to the component parts at the joint such that sealing without leakage is not attainable, thus requiring new parts and restarting the installing, repairing and/or replacement operation. Even if use of a pipe wrench does not cause damage to the latter extent, the physical effort is still required and the surfaces of the component parts at or adjacent to joint can be marred so as to detract from the otherwise pleasing appearance thereof.